How are characters portrayed in Sofia Coppola’s first three films with reference to feminist film theory?

Feminism has had a major influence on film theory. In early 70s, feminist film theorists such as Molly Haskell, Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey respectively analysed, from different perspectives, dominant cinema’s representations of women. They particularly analysed whether or not women were shown as active or passive and the amount of screen time dedicated to them in films. In From Reverence to Rape, the treatment of women in the movies (1974), Haskell looked at female stereotypes, mostly in Hollywood films of 30s and 40s. Women were portrayed as mothers, virgins or prostitutes.

The notion of counter cinema was first introduced by Peter Wollen in 1972. It aims at breaking away from the expected constructions predominating in most Hollywood narrative and mass production films. Peter Wollen (1972) set and explained seven counter cinema values: narrative intransitivity, estrangement, foregrounding, multiple diegesis, aperture, un-pleasure, and reality.

Feminist counter cinema was inspired by the avant garde (e.g. Godard) which means that feminist films avoided traditional narrative and techniques when portraying women in films and offered an alternative. Friedman (2007) said that “where Hollywood films proposed an active male gaze and a passive female gaze, feminist counter-cinema narrative strategies placed women at the center of narrative cause and effect, rather than having active male and passive female characters (p.140).

An example of early feminist counter cinema is Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen. The film is constructed in three sections and 13 chapters with headings. In the one entitled “Laura talking”, Mulvey directly addresses herself to the audience (a key element of counter cinema). The female protagonist, Louise, is filmed and represented in an attempt to offer an alternative to the conventional narrative structures of women objectification in dominant cinema. The film examines notions such as feminism, motherhood and sexual difference.

Laura Mulvey, in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) used psychoanalysis to understand the construction of Hollywood cinema. She argued that the cinematic gaze is a male gaze and that films are constructed in a way in which women are to be looked at. She describes this process of viewing with the notion of “scopophilia”, the pleasure of viewing. Freud explained this term as being a fundamental drive, sexual in origin, implying that this is what keeps the audience watching. Mulvey argued that the narrative structure of classical cinema portrays the male character as active and powerful while the female character is passive, powerless and an object of desires.

In her essay "Woman’s Cinema as Counter Cinema" (1979), Johnston looked at women stereotypes in films. She was the first to analyse them from a semiotic point of view by looking at how the female is framed, lit and dressed. Just like Mulvey, she showed that many narratives in mainstream cinema depict the woman as the object of male desire.

Nowadays, there are more women filmmakers and women’s roles and representations in films have evolved. In certain genres, however, women are still objectified and appear passive. Smaill (2011) explained: “the 1980s saw a modest wave of support for female filmmakers, evident in targeted distribution and funding strategies that realized some of the ideals of the second wave feminism of the 1970s. Since the early 1990s this support has lessened while a new industrial terrain for the production of independent features more broadly has emerged. Within this terrain, the career of Coppola and of other (less visible) female directors, such as Lisa Cholodenko, Kimberley Peirce, Rose Troche, Catherine Hardwicke, Nancy Savoca or Debra Granik, has taken shape” (p.154).

An example of contemporary feminist counter cinema is Sofia Coppola. She is an American filmmaker, daughter of well-known director, Francis Ford Coppola. She grew up in the celebrity culture of Hollywood and she made several appearances in her father’s films (The Godfather films, 1972, 1974, 1990; The Outsiders, 1983). Some may say she was predestined to become a filmmaker but this desire only came a few years after graduating from a fine arts program at the California Institute of the Arts, as a way of reuniting her passions: costuming, fashion and photography.

She made her feature writing and directing debut in 1999 with The Virgin Suicides, based on the 1993 novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. It relates the story of a group of men looking back from adulthood at their adolescence when they were infatuated with the Lisbon sisters: Cecilia (Hanna Hall), Lux (Kirsten Dunst), Mary (A. J. Cook), Bonnie (Chelse Swain) and Therese (Leslie Hayman), living in their neighbourhood. The film begins with the attempted suicide of the youngest sister, thirteen-year-old Cecilia, and ends with the suicides of them all. The film strongly evokes themes of longing (adolescent sexual longing), nostalgia, and suburbia.

Her second feature, Lost in Translation (2003) relates the story of two American characters in Japan, both respectively going through a life-crisis. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) has recently graduated from Yale in philosophy and has followed her husband, a successful photographer on his business trip to Tokyo. She does not know what she is supposed to do in life and starts to measure how much her husband has changed in the course of their two-year-old marriage. Bob (Bill Murray) used to be a film actor and is in Tokyo to star in a television advertisement endorsing Whisky.

Marie Antoinette (2006) recalls the story of the last Queen of France, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), born to Austrian aristocracy. At only 14 years old, she is pledged to marry French Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), as a political alliance between the two countries. Marie Antoinette is sent to France and deprived of everything belonging to her former life. After their marriage, Louis seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage despite the pressure of having an heir to the throne. The film follows the spending eccentricities of Marie Antoinette on clothes, shoes and parties while knowing and caring little about the misery France is currently facing.

Coppola directed two further films, Somewhere (2009) and The Bling Ring (to be released in June 2013). She won the prize for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in translation at 2004 Academy Awards. Coppola also became the first American woman to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination, though she lost it to Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Sofia Coppola’s credibility as a filmmaker has often been questioned and attributed to her privileged position and childhood, and her films have been depicted as being empty. If she may have had a certain advantage in life, her films are often low budget and deeply-inspired by her predilection themes and signature as an auteur.

Auteur theory was first introduced by French director Truffaut in his essay "A certain tendancy of the French cinema" (1954). The term was used to characterize the authorship that a filmmaker exercises over his work to the extent that it becomes identifiable in all of his films. They represent and reflect his personal and creative vision. Auteur theory came to America in the 60s through film critic Andrew Sarris. He suggested that “over a group of films a director must exhibit certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature.” The authorship of a director can be recognized in the recurring themes present in his films.

Sofia Coppola’s techniques in film-making have become recognisable to the viewers: slow camera movements, slow moving time, and modern soundtracks (particularly noticeable in Marie Antoinette because it does not match the period it represents). Her personal passions are reflected in her attention to details in room setting, costumes, and the presence of pastel colours. Her recurring themes are the coming of age, moments of transitions in life, isolation, dream, rituals, longing, and nostalgia.

All of the characters in her first three films are caught in moments of transition: the Lisbon sisters and the boys of The Virgin Suicides are going through adolescence and rites of passage (sexuality, move from childhood to adulthood). Charlotte in Lost in Translation does not know where she fits in her husband’s photography career, while Bob is experiencing a mid-life crisis. Marie Antoinette experiences a transition when marrying Louis XVI as she says good-bye to her home, country, belongings and childhood.

Coppola shows a particular interest in representing the uncertainty her characters are going through. Rogers (2007) explained that “her protagonists are unformed characters in crisis at bifurcation points and open to the changeable flux of the world. As a filmmaker, then, her specialty is visually mapping the world of someone who is lost in his environment, who is alienated from those surrounding him and, for want of a better phrase, suffering an existential crisis”.

A sense of ennui is ultimately translated in Coppola’s films. She has a predilection for showing (rather than narrating) the feeling of emptiness people experience. Charlotte, in Lost in Translation is constantly shown lost in her thoughts, sitting by her hotel window, watching the majestic landscape, not being able to sleep, longing for answers she is not able to figure out. After the death of Cecilia, the Lisbon sisters are shown all lying in one of the bedroom, vacantly listening to music, reading magazines.

She also portrays her characters as being isolated even when surrounded by people. The Lisbon sisters become extremely isolated when their mother take them out of school; Charlotte is shown as visiting various places on her own and Marie Antoinette, though constantly surrounded by people, is lonely because of her husband’s coldness towards her. They all have different ways of trying to overcome their isolation: Marie Antoinette by uncontrollable consumption, Charlotte by rationally observing a foreign land and trying to feel something (as she tries to explain during a phone call to a distracted friend) and the Lisbon sisters by listening to their favourite records and reading.

Rituals are an important part of Coppola’s authorship. Instead of portraying a detailed and accurate aspect of history, she focuses on daily rituals in Marie Antoinette: the morning routine of waking and dressing the queen, the meals between Marie and Louis XVI spent in almost silence. In the same way, The Virgin Suicides portrays American high school and adolescent rituals such as the homecoming dance, a first party, a first kiss, and losing one’s virginity.

What is interesting in Coppola’s films is that she does not just focus on women searching for identity and meaning, but also on men (the boys, Bob, and Louis XVI). As a woman filmmaker, Coppola has transformed the male gaze explained by Mulvey. Women are not represented as passive in Coppola’s first three films. Even in The Virgin Suicides, where the Lisbon sisters are represented in an idealised and sometimes sexualised version through the memory of the boys, they are the active cause of their longing. The boys are the ones shown as passive and incapable of understanding why the sisters killed themselves. In Lost in translation, although Charlotte is seen as passive in her marriage, she takes the initiative with Bob by sending a drink to his table through which their relationship begins. As for Marie Antoinette, even if it is based on historical fact, she is portrayed as the one trying in her relationship with Louis (making conversation, pursuing sexual intercourse). The female characters are also dedicated a majority of screen time.

Coppola’s films are strongly displaying a feeling of dream, memory and nostalgia. The Virgin Suicides is the story of the Lisbon sisters told through the memory of the boys. It explores the nostalgia of their adolescence, the dreams of what could have been if the sisters had not died. It therefore does not portray a realistic version of reality. For example, when Lux and Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett) kiss for the first time, it is not clear whether it’s fantasy or reality because Lux seems to appear from thin air and she begins to kiss him fervently which is not in keeping with her behaviour up to this point.

Feminist counter cinema introduced by Mulvey and Wollen in 1977 is still applicable for women filmmaker today whether they intended it or not. Sofia Coppola is an illustration of it as she portrays women as active and sometimes exercising power and fascination over men (e.g. The Virgin Suicides) who themselves seem incapable of action. Her rather small career as a filmmaker is nonetheless significant as she has already managed to develop themes that can be identifiable in her first three films, the focus of this paper. She has a predilection for isolation, longing, coming of age, moments of transitions in life, dream, and rituals.

References

Friedman, L. (2007) Fires were started: British cinema and Thatcherism. New York: Columbia University Press.

Haskell, M. (1974) From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Johnston, C. (1973) “Women’s Cinema as Counter-Cinema” in: Notes on Women’s Cinema. London: Society for Education in Film and Television.

Lost in Translation (film) (2003) Sofia Coppola (dir.), Focus Features, USA.

Marie Antoinette (film) (2006) Sofia Coppola (dir.), Columbia Pictures Corporation, USA.

Mulvey, L. (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Screen ,16 (3), pp.6–18.

Pedersen, S. 2012. Women and film. November 29 [lecture] Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University.

Rogers, A. (2007) ‘Sofia Coppola’, Senses of Cinema, 45 [Online] Available at: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/great-directors/sofia-coppola/ (Accessed on 10 April 2013).

Rottentomatoes.com (1971) Sofia Coppola Biography - Rotten Tomatoes. [online] Available at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/sofia_coppola/biography.php (Accessed on 15 April 2013).

Sarris, A. (1962) “Notes on the Auteur Theory of 1962.” Film Theory and Criticism, Fifth Edition. Ed. Leo Braudy. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. pp.515-518. Available at: http://people.virginia.edu/~jrw3k/enwr//106-7/readings/Sarris_Notes_on_the_Auteur_Theory.pdf

Screenonline.org.uk (1975) BFI Screenonline: Riddles of the Sphinx (1977). [online] Available at: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/567526/ (Accessed on 11 April 2013).

Smaill, B. (2013) Sofia Coppola, Feminist Media Studies, 13 (1), pp.148-162.

Smelik, A. (1999) “Feminist Film Theory,” in Pamela Cook and Mieke Benink (eds.), The Cinema Book (2nd ed.). London: British Film Institute.

The Virgin Suicides (film) (1999) Sofia Coppola (dir.), Paramount, USA.

Truffaut, F. (1954) A certain tendancy of the French cinema. http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/DaVega/FILMST_101/FILMST_101_FILM_MOVEMENTS/FrenchNewWave/A_certain_tendency_tr%23540A3.pdf

Wollen, P. (1972) “Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est,” [e-book] Available at http://books.google.co.uk (Accessed on 02 March 2013).

Film Review - Anna Karenina (2012)

Anna Karenina (2012) was directed by Joe Wright, acclaimed director of Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). With his third collaboration with Keira Knightley as lead actress, Joe Wright follows his recurring tendency of adapting literature classics onto screen. Tom Stoppard, playwright and adaptor of many literature classics (e.g. Shakespeare in Love, 1998; Parade’s End, 2012), wrote the screenplay based on Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 much loved novel Anna Karenina. It recalls the tragic love triangle of Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), her highly-respected husband Karenin (Jude Law), and the dashing cavalier officer Count Wronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

The relationship between Anna and Karenin is distant, love seems absent from their marriage.  The story begins with Anna leaving St Petersburg to visit her brother Oblonsky (Matthew McFayden) with the plan to reconcile him with his wife, Dolly (Kelly Macdonald), after she had found out that he was cheating on her with the governess. Anna first meets Wronsky on her way to see her brother. Kitty (Alicia Vikander), Dolly’s sister, invites her to her birthday ball, expecting Wronsky to propose to her. Whilst there, Wronsky is captivated by Anna and they share a passionate dance (below clip), from this point, Wronsky tries everything he can to seduce her until she finally yields. In parallel, Levin (Domhnall Gleeson), a country landowner desires to marry Kitty, but is disappointed as she holds out for Wronsky, only to be embarrassed because of his infatuation for Anna. 

Knightley expertly portrays the complexity and ambiguity of Anna’s character, the viewer is not sure whether or not to empathise with her. She shows love, kindness, joy at the beginning before falling into darkness and melodrama as Anna is tortured with the dilemma she faces: either she stays and plays the enamoured wife and loving mother, or she gives in to the deepest desire to forget everyone and be with her lover.

The story asks important questions of morals (regarding adultery) and gender differences of the time: men being the sole breadwinner in any family could get away with unfaithfulness because his wife would not be able to provide for herself; women, on the other hand, most definitely could not get away with unfaithfulness and were ostracised by the rest of society.

Anna Karenina has been adapted many times and a new version of the story implied bringing something fresh and different from what has been done in the past. Joe Wright successfully did it by choosing to set the scene in and as a theatre, with a few exceptions, as a means to represent the superficiality of the Russian society at the time. This artistic decision is emphasised by an ever-shifting stage: it becomes a train station, an office, a horse race, Anna’s son room, among other ones. The film is also rhythmic; the choreographed and structured opening scenes of Oblonsky’s office and Anna reading a letter from him while dressing are like a dance.

Wright portrays a Russian society where there does not seem to be any respite from the public eye. Everything seems to be known and everybody is severely judged and avoided when they do anything contrary to the socially accepted norm (Anna becomes extremely isolated after leaving her husband). Wronsky and Anna first encounters happen in the eyes of everyone and gossip is surrounding them. Wright also uses upper backstage as a metaphor of “listening to the door” and gives a reminder of the theatre. 

Joe Wright makes good use of close-ups to show the emotions of the characters as well as emphasizing the focus on them. People stare at Anna as she makes reappearance in society (above clip). Wright captures Anna’s lies and despair by filming her through mirrors that reveal to the viewer how she really feels and how much different she is from the face that she puts on for society and her husband.

A powerful contribution to the film’s atmosphere is the soundtrack by Dario Marianelli (fourth collaboration) that reminds the viewer of a Russian ballet.

The main storyline, although enthralling, demonstrates the despair caused by lust. However, the film is not without hope. True love is characterized by the righteous Lenin and the more mature Kitty who fall in love and get married and hope is further empathised in the way that they reject society’s view of purity by caring for Lenin’s sick brother even though he is married to a prostitute (a women of high social standing could not be seen in the same room as a woman of disrepute). 

Ideologies in film

Bordwell and Thompson (2010) defined an ideology as being “a relatively coherent system of values, beliefs, or ideas shared by some social group and often taken [by members of that group] as natural or inherently true”.

This means that the way we receive ideologies presented in films is extremely subjective as they are based on the director’s own values and beliefs about the world. We either accept or reject his film because it either agrees or not with our own values. Turner developed this idea of subjectivity in Film as Social Practice (1988) and said: “both the production and reception of film are framed by ideological interests, no matter how insistently this might be denied”.

Ideologies are expressed in every film, explicitly and implicitly. They can be identified by the representation of prejudices about gender, race or of society’s ideals of justice and equality for example. They can be seen in the way the film is constructed: Turner suggests analysing the texts, narrative, characters, and lighting to see them. 

An example of implicit ideology is the film Mean girls (2004) directed by Mark Waters. It tells the story of sixteen year-old Cady, who starts high school in the U.S. after being home-schooled all her life in Africa.

The school, seen through her eyes, shows the very stereotypical “cliques” people form and reveals one of the issues teenagers go through, fitting in. The three mean girls in the film are the most popular (referred to as “the plastics”), pretty and stupid, everyone looks up to them in the school despite their hypocritical attitude. The narrative of the film is comedic, apparently empty of meaning and the issues it deals with are highly exaggerated. This narrative was intentional: the film uses comedy to implicitly express ideologies. The aim was to encourage teenage girls to be more civilized when they interact with each other. Through the characters of “the plastics”, the film shows the audience an example they should not follow. The end of the film shows that characters, who used to be part of separate cliques, are now hanging out together.

Ideologies can also be identified in external factors that have affected the production of the film. Comolli and Narboni (1969) suggest that “every film is political in as much as it is determined by the ideology that produced it”. Various scenes of Pirates and the Caribbean:At World’s End (2007) were censored in Chinese cinemas: a love scene, mentions of political affairs, violence, and the pirate character Captain Sao Feng reading a poem in Cantonese. BBC news (June 2007) reports that “the previous instalment in the film franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was banned by the Chinese film bureau because of scenes of cannibalism and ghosts”. The ideologies presented in this film were not considered suitable for the Chinese audience by the government and therefore they chose to regulate the showing of the film.

Ideologies tend to be more explicit in heroes and villains films.

The first X-men film (2000) gives clear messages of equality and acceptance. The mutants are seen by humans as “the other”. The heroes are the mutants using their powers for good, on the side of Charles Xavier and the villains are the ones using their powers for evil (here to get rid of human kind), on the side of Magneto.  

References

Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. (2010) Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Comolli, J.L. and Narboni, J.P. (1969) “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism”. Originally published in Cahiers du Cinema.

News.bbc.co.uk (2007) BBC NEWS | Entertainment | China censors 'cut' Pirates film. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6744245.stm (Accessed on 10 April 2013)

Starr, Elana, 2009. Ideology. Villanova, [homepage] 22 September. Available at: http://www89.homepage.villanova.edu/elana.starr/pages/ideology-cinema.htm (Accessed on 08 April 2013).

Turner, G. (1988) Film as Social Practice. [e-book] London: Routledge. Available through: Google Books <http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=McMOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false > (Accessed on 9 April 2013).

Dominant cinema VS Counter cinema

       Dominant cinema 

Dominant or mainstream cinema refers to the predictable and expected constructions which predominate in most Hollywood narrative and mass production films. “Such feature-length movies are made and distributed along lines common to Hollywood productions which in turn are replicated throughout the world by other major film industries” (Simon, 2009). The film genre (western, musical) and films stars involved are easily identifiable.  

The science-fiction film Avatar (2009) directed by James Cameron conforms to the Hollywood filmmaking standards. The story takes place in 2154, where Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine, is sent to the moon Pandora, with the mission of bringing back supplies of a mineral (unobtanium) that can solve Earth's energy crisis. He is sent through the avatar programme, changed as one the Na'vi inhabitants of Pandora.

The story was conceived years before its release in the mind of James Cameron but delayed until technology could adapt to his vision. Avatar was a much anticipated film because of its advances in the use of 3D. Such emphasis was made on it that Avatar could almost have successfully distracted us from the very simplistic story-line that could have well been inspired by Pocahontas. The detailed and majestic world of Pandora is not fascinating enough to hold the attention for such a long film (2h40min). The story-line follows the mainstream standards of action and fantasy films (a hero, the “good guys against the bad ones”) and displays traditional family values (through the Na’vi inhabitants).  

Avatar is conforming to Hollywood filmmaking standards in that it satisfies the viewers’ expectations through its predictable story-line and yet offers them something innovative enough (3D) to entertain them.

Counter cinema 

Counter cinema aims to break away from dominant cinema by offering an opposite film construction and techniques. Peter Wollen (1972) set and explained seven counter cinema values: narrative intransitivity, estrangement, foregrounding, multiple diegesis, aperture, un-pleasure, reality.

Some of these characteristics can be identified in the film Babel directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and released in 2006. It relates four different stories (set in the United States, Mexico, Japan and Morocco) which are organized around one tragic event.

The film shows an unconventional choice of narrative structure in that it constantly swaps between the four stories. The chronology of the linked stories is often disrupted which gives the audience a feeling of unpredictability and confusion. Susan’s shooting (Cate Blanchett) for example, is constructed as an accident; the viewer doesn’t learn and understand the actual cause of the shooting until nearly the end of the film.

The name of film refers to the biblical story of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11v1-9)  . The film reflects the passage through the different miscommunication stories, both across and within culture. For example, Richard (Brad Pitt) desperately tries to ask for help when his wife gets shot but struggles because he doesn’t speak the language.   

Babel shows counter-cinema technique with the use of “shaky hand-held camera, temporal disruption and multiple narratives” (Tierney, 2009). By setting stories in four different countries, Iñárritu also makes an emphasis on the differences between them and the class groups within them and portrays the reality of the world.  

References

Keenan, J. (2013) Counter cinema. Available at: http://rgucinemasociety.blogspot.co.uk/ (Accessed on 01 Mar 2013).

Peter Wollen (1972) “Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est,” [e-book] Available at http://books.google.co.uk (Accessed on 02 March 2013).

Rottentomatoes.com (1997) Avatar. [online] Available at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/  (Accessed on 02 Mar 2013).

Simon, C. (2009) Dominant vs Counter cinema [Online] Available at: http://filmtheoryandcriticism.wordpress.com/research-topics-source-materials/new-wave/dominant-vs-counter-cinema/  (Accessed on 02 March 2013).

Tierney, D. (2009) Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu: Director without Borders. [online] Available at: http://www.academia.edu/1065538/Alejandro_Gonzalez_Inarritu_Director_without_Borders  (Accessed on 03 Mar 2013).

WHAT MAKES A FILMMAKER AN AUTEUR?

Auteur theory was first introduced by French director Truffaut in his essay "A certain tendency of the French cinema" (1954). The idea is that a filmmaker exercises an authorship over his work that is identifiable in all of his films and recurring themes. They represent and reflect his personal and creative vision. Auteur theory came to America in the 60s through film critic Andrew Sarris. He suggested that “over a group of films a director must exhibit certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature” (1962). 

Wes Anderson, an American director and screenwriter can be considered as an auteur. He is the author of seven films. During his years at the University of Texas at Austin, he became friends with Owen Wilson, a co-writer and actor in many of his films. Together they worked on Wes Anderson’s first film, Bottle Rocket (1996), the acting career starting point of brothers Owen, Andrew and Luke Wilson.  

His films reflect a universe that is deeply-inspired and influenced by his personal vision and life experience. Rushmore (1998) was inspired by his school years (his private school is actually featured in the film) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) family issues could be related to his parents’ divorce when he was eight and recalls as being “the most crucial event of my brothers and my growing up” (e.g. Rotten Tomatoes). His films are easily recognizable through the use of recurring themes such as family ties, fatherhood, coming of age, need for approval and Wes Anderson’s personal life experience.

Anderson shows consistency in his choice of actors by sticking to the same ones such as Owen and Luke Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray who star in at least three of his films. His characters tend to be eccentrics, creative, precocious and intellectuals. Another aspect of consistency would be the choice of costumes that never change and seems to stick to the characters as a reflection of who they are and represent. This is particularly obvious in The Royal Tenenbaums (e.g. picture below)

His signature lies in well-used slow motion sequences as seen in the scene below in the Royal Tenenbaums (Margot Tenenbaum walking towards Richie) or in The Darjeeling Limited (2007) when Peter Whitman (Adrien Brody) out-runs a man (Bill Murray) to jump on the train.

His second film Rushmore (1998) is the coming of age story of Max Fisher (Jason Schwartzman debut), an eccentric 15-year-old boy who attends the tenth grade at Rushmore Academy. The coming of age theme can also be seen in recent Moonrise Kingdom (2012) where two adolescents fall in love (reference is made to Anderson's memories of childhood literature in Suzie’s attachement to her books). The clip below shows Wes Anderson particular way of introducing the things his characters do or like (here the ridiculous amount of Max’s extracurricular activities).

The royal Tenenbaums (2001) is a comedy portraying the reunion of a dysfunctional family. Parents and children are successful in their specific area, geniuses even but when the abrupt departure of the father leave the family scared. This film shows the fatherhood and family relationships theme (also deeply-rooted in Fantastic Mr Fox). It also displays Wes Anderson’s particular way of elaborating detailed sets as can be seen below for the Belafonte boat in Life Aquatic but also the family house in Moonrise Kingdom.

References

Truffaut, F. (1954) A certain tendancy of the French cinema. http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/DaVega/FILMST_101/FILMST_101_FILM_MOVEMENTS/FrenchNewWave/A_certain_tendency_tr%23540A3.pdf  (Accessed on 28 February 2013).

Sarris, A. (1962) “Notes on the Auteur Theory of 1962.”  Film Theory and Criticism, Fifth Edition.  Ed. Leo Braudy.  New York: Oxford UP, 1999.  pp.515-518. Available at:  http://people.virginia.edu/~jrw3k/enwr//106-7/readings/Sarris_Notes_on_the_Auteur_Theory.pdf (Accessed on 28 February 2013).

Keenan, J. (2013) Auteur theory. Cinema and Society. [online] Available at: http://rgucinemasociety.blogspot.co.uk/  (Accessed on 01 March 2013).  

Rottentomatoes.com (1969) Wes Anderson Biography - Rotten Tomatoes. [online] Available at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/wes_anderson/biography.php (Accessed on 01 Mar 2013).

Cinema pioneers: 5 defining moments of cinema pre 1930's

Les frères Lumières - L’arroseur arrosé (1895)

“L'Arroseur arosé" (in English known as The Waterer Watered) is a silent black and white short film by French directors Lumière Brothers in 1895. They are well-known for being pioneers in early film-making with the help of their invention of the Cinématographe in 1895. This film is 49s long and its scene takes place on a single set. The story-line is very simple but effective with a practical joke. The film introduces what is now known as “slapstick” (“a type of physical comedy characterized by broad humour, absurd situations, and vigorous, usually violent action”, Britannica.com) with the gardener disciplining the boy. This film is innovative as it can be considered as one of the first to include comedy.

Georges Méliès  - Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902)

French filmmaker Georges Méliès directed A trip to the Moon in 1902. This silent film, introduced the science fiction genre. It lasts 10 minutes which at the time was considered extremely long. The film depicts a meeting of astronomers that decide, after a long discussion, to take a trip to the moon. Six of them agree to go and the second part of the film focuses on the discovery of the life on the Moon. By telling a story this film displays an early understanding and use of narrative film technique. Méliès was also among the first director to use changing sets and costumes (1.49s). Most of all, the film shows an early and innovative use of special effects such as the landing of the spaceship on the eye of the Moon (4.46s).

Edwin Porter – The Great Train Robbery (1903)

The Great Train Robbery is a silent black and white film by Edwin Porter. It was based on an 1896 story by Scott Marble. It is one the first narrative films and also announced the beginning of the Western film genre. It features, as the title implies, bandits holding up train passengers and robbing them before escaping. This film used the innovative technique of parallel editing: showing separate events happening at the same time but in different places (the bandits running away with their loot / the telegraph operator trying to escape/ and the dance hall). The film ends with an emotive close-up, the chief bandit pointing and shooting his gun directly into the camera and therefore, the audience.

Sergei Eisenstein - Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Russian film Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein relates a violent mutiny that occurred in 1905. The sailors of the battleship Potemkin rebelled against the brutality of their Tsarist officers. Although Eisenstein does not picture a literal and faithful version of history, it is inspired by real events. The clip shows the famous “Odessa steps sequence” where soldiers shoot rioters and innocent on the steps. The film’s strength relies on Eisenstein’s innovative use of montage which is particularly illustrated in this clip. Eisenstein manipulates the viewer’s perception by making the running of the steps last much longer than it would in reality. He also alternates images of events happening to individuals to provoke an emotional impact on views such as the runaway of a baby carriage (6.43s).

Alan Crosland - The jazz singer (1927)  

Films such as Don Juan (1926) introduced sound in cinema but the influence of The Jazz Singer (1927), cannot be underestimated. This American musical film was indeed widely accepted as the first feature-length sound movie with synchronized dialogue sequences. It was directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros who had previously invested in a Vitaphone sound system for Don Juan. Al Jolson performs six songs in the film, which is based on The Day of Atonement, a play by Samson Raphaelson. This clip shows the well-known scene of Jakie (Al Jolson) singing “Blue skies” to his mother. It also shows the limits of the sound with the sudden break between the synchronized dialogue and song with the inter-titles (1.02s).  

References

Earlycinema.com (1867) EarlyCinema.com. [online] Available at: http://www.earlycinema.com/timeline/index.html [Accessed on 15 February 2013].

Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) slapstick - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/548077/slapstick [Accessed on 28 February 2013].

Filmsite.org (1903) The Great Train Robbery (1903). [online] Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/grea.html  [Accessed on 02 Mar 2013]

Rgucinemasociety.blogspot.co.uk (n.d.) Cinema and Society. [online] Available at: http://rgucinemasociety.blogspot.co.uk/  [Accessed on 01 March 2013].  

Rottentomatoes.com (n.d.) Movies | Movie Trailers | Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes. [online] Available at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com [Accessed on 01 Mar 2013].